Business and Corporate Law

• Corporate Law
  Mary’s interest in families and family-owned businesses comes as no surprise as she is from a long line of entrepreneurs. Her Irish great-grandparents moved west and opened a general store, bank, and ranch. Mary’s father owned and ran the hardware store in the small Texas town where Mary grew up. Mary has operated her own business for over 20 years now, assisting clients with estate planning, probate, and corporate law matters. She is a Fellow in the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel (ACTEC) and has been named a Super Lawyer by Atlanta Magazine for 15 years, a Top 50 Women Lawyer in the State of Georgia for 12 years, and a Top 100 Lawyer in the State of Georgia for the past two years.
• Business Disputes
  Since 1998, Galardi Law has provided customized estate plans for individuals in Atlanta and assisted with creating solid foundations for small to medium-sized companies to succeed. With 25 years of estate planning and business law experience, the Galardi Law team has the knowledge and dedication to assist in all matters of business law, non-profit entities, estate planning and probate. Galardi Law is a proud woman-owned law firm near Brookhaven, Georgia.

Trusts and Estates

• Estate Planning
  Growing up as a preacher’s kid, Jessica has always enjoyed connecting with families and understands how important estate planning can be in preserving family legacies. Before a career change in 2021, Jessica worked in Non-profit Communications at local non-profit organizations in Atlanta and was the Communications Director for the Methodist Church on Emory University’s campus.
• Wills
  There are many different forms of Health Care Directives or Living Wills. The Georgia Advance Directive for Health Care is a document which allows you to appoint someone to make health care decisions for you when you are unable to verbalize your wishes. It is a detailed document which enables you to make choices regarding specific types of health care you are willing to be subjected to including blood transfusions and amputation and to state your treatment preferences if you have a terminal condition or if you are in a state of permanent unconsciousness. It is used to allow your appointed agent access to your health care information when they otherwise would not be allowed that information pursuant to the privacy protections required by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPPA). You may also use this document to specify that your health care agent can make decisions for you after your death with respect to autopsy, organ donation, body donation and the final disposition of your body. With this document, you can also appoint a guardian for you in the event of permanent physical and mental incapacity. Advance health care directives are used only after the initial emergency has passed and the outlook for recovery has been established. This document is separate from a Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) Order. A DNR is issued by a physician after conferring with the patient (or family or health care agent) and is generally used when CPR would be medically futile or only temporarily successful. These documents must be formalized in the appropriate manner requiring two witnesses and in most cases a notary public. The witnesses cannot be related to you nor can they be a beneficiary under the Will.
• Trusts
  The disadvantage of creating an irrevocable life insurance trust is just that, it is irrevocable. This means that once the trust terms are determined, they can’t be changed. If one child is not living up to expectations, and they are to be written out of the will, they can still benefit from the proceeds of the irrevocable trust.
• Power of Attorney
  The following documents are the foundation of a good basic estate plan: will, durable financial power of attorney, and advance health care directive (which includes information included in a living will).
• Probate

Finance Law

• Tax Law
  A will is used to set out the terms of how your assets are distributed upon your death. Generally, couples leave all of their assets to the surviving spouse and then to their children. In Georgia, if you die without a will, state law designates that your spouse will receive a one-third share if you have at least two children, with the two children receiving a one-third share each. If you have minor children, your will is the only place you can designate a guardian if both parents die. If you are married and own property in excess of $12 million (including the face value of any life insurance), you need a Will with tax planning to ensure that the IRS does not take more than its fair share. Even if your estate is less than $12 million, you might need tax planning. Of course, anything jointly held, such as a house if titled correctly, will go to the other joint owner. Also, assets with a beneficiary designation, like life insurance or retirement benefits, are distributed outside of probate and directly to the designated beneficiary.